Calling, Cyrus Fapper by Tosh Berman

 

Calling, Cyrus Fapper by Tosh Berman

Mishima and Dazai

 

Mishima and Dazai by Tosh Berman

War by Louis-Ferdinand Céline (Two Translations)

 

War by Louis-Ferdinand Céline (Two Translations)

Osamu Dazai's Short Novel "The Flowers of Buffoonery" by Tosh Berman

 

Osamu Dazai's Short Novel "The Flowers of Buffoonery" by Tosh Berman

The Best Fiction & Poetry Books I Have Read in 2022

 

The Best Fiction & Poetry Books I Have Read in 2022

Tosh Berman on Shuji Terayama and 20th Century Japanese Literature

 

Tosh on Shuji Terayama and 20th Century Japanese Literature

Tosh Talks Podcast: Terayama Shūji's book "When I Was a Wolf" (Kurodahan Press)

Tosh Talks Podcast: Terayama Shūji's book "When I Was a Wolf"

Kurodahan Press website:  Kurodahan Press

February 24, 2017 (Tosh's Diary) Shinkenshan Train ( Tokyo - Kyoto)

February 23, 2017

On the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) on the way from Tokyo to Kyoto.  There is something so civilized when one travels on a train compared to a flying machine.  For one, I can watch the landscape unfold onto another world.  It's a leap into the future as the Shinkansen moves at the speed of  200 mph.   From my window, I can see Mount Fuji, which is a ghost mountain.   Osamu Dazai wrote this amazing short story about Mount Fuji, "One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji,"  and how it is so prominent in one's life.   The last scene of the story is when tourists come upon the narrator (who we presume is Dazai) and ask him to take a photograph of them with Mount Fuji in the background.  He gave them time to pose, and then without them knowing,  Dazai focused the camera upward on taking a  photo of the mountain, leaving the tourists out of their photograph.   Sometimes a location is even greater than the individual.

June 19, 2014

June 19, 2014

Some years ago, working at Book Soup, I was shelving books in the bottom row, which is ground level, when all of sudden a book from above fell on to my head - it was “No Longer Human” by Osamu Dazai.  I thought this was a sign from above, and therefore bought and read the book.  The narrative of a young misfit in a very structured society, had a profound affect on me, and it put serious ideas that I should be a writer as well as a publisher.  Some point out that there are no such things as accidents, but even though it looked like the hand of fate played a role in all of this, I feel I was just lucky to be hit in the head with this book.

At the time of this “accident”, I was a big fan of Yukio Mishima.  I liked everything about this guy - his fascism, his dandyism, his writing, and the fact that he appeared to be a creature who re-invented himself to be Mishima.   The one writer that he hated was Osamu Dazai.  Due to the fact that he was popular and respected in the Japanese literary world of course, but also that in his eyes, Dazai was a weak character.  Keep in mind, Mishima had to re-invent himself from a weakling (in his eyes) to a super figure.  Dazai was the total opposite of Mishima.  For one, he was very much a failure with respect to his wealthy family.  He became a Communist, a failed student,  a drug addict, drunk and worst, he tried to commit suicide numerous times, and once organized a double- suicide with a 19-year old bar hostess named Shimeko Tanabe, in which he survived the suicide attempt, but she died.

Mishima, right after he wrote “Confessions of a Mask” (an incredible book by the way) was invited to a large ‘literary’ party that was in honor of Dazai.   He never met him, and on top of that, there was nobody there except individuals who were highly influential in literature at this exclusive party.  Mishima went up to Dazai, among the crowd that surrounded him, and told him to his face - my name is Mishima, and I don’t care for your work.” Everyone around Dazai was shocked to hear such a pronouncement from a fledgling writer to an older literary figure - Dazai just looked at him, and laughed.  He told everyone right at that moment “He is only saying that, because he loves me.” This statement struck Mishima hard, in fact he told this story to friends, right before he committed his famous suicide.

Of course, this made Dazai more enduring to me, and eventually I read everything possible by him that were translated into English.  My favorite two books by him are “Self Portraits, ” which is a collection of his short stories and “Return to Tsugaru.” The latter basically started out as an assignment for him to go back to his home town and to document the environmental facts of that area.  But with him, you get a memoir of sorts as read as a travel guide.   The thing is, like the “Self Portraits” book, it reads like little memoir pieces, is actually fiction.  The fact that he could use his sad, pathetic life, and turn it into a charming piece of writing, had a major effect on my own aesthetic.  Dazai opened me up to a much larger world.

On one of my many trips to Japan, I went out of the way to go to his studio near Mount Fuji, and it was a very expensive trip for me.  Taking a taxi from a small town to his location cost around $100, but it was worth it for me to see one of his manuscripts under glass as well as viewing Mount Fuji from his studio.   He wrote this remarkable short story called “One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji” which is about how the great mountain oversees so much of the culture of Japan, and how it can even affect a writer.  The last paragraph of the story is about how Dazai, or the main character, was stopped by a pair of tourists who wanted him to snap a picture of them with Mount Fuji in the background.  Dazai agreed to do it, but unknown to them, he brought the camera lens up and shot the mountain instead of the tourists.  To me, this was such a fascinating comment on an iconic piece of property as well as a mountain’s importance to people.

As time went on, his life got messier and messier. It was obvious he was heading to a point of no return.   He met a young war widow who had lost her husband after 10 days of married life.  Her name was Tomie Yamazaki.  He ran off his wife and children to be with her, and eventually they had a child out-of-wedlock.  It was with her, that he finally committed suicide - and their bodies were found a week later in a canal near their home.  There is a theory that he was actually murdered and forced to drown by Tomie, and then she killed herself by drowning, but that is just a rumor.  I have been haunted by a photograph of both of their bodies by the river.

Every time I put pen to paper or push a letter off the computer keyboard I think of Osamu Dazai.   From time-to-time I have been asked by a magazine editor for my photograph for the use in a publication, and I usually just send a photo of Dazai, because I honestly feel he represent me more than I.

Images of Mt Fuji (Homage to Osamu Dazai and his short story "One Hundred Views Of Mount Fuji")

Osamu Dazai's "Schoolgirl"

Whenever i put pen on to a paper or I type words I think of Osamu Dazai.   The craft of his writing with the mixture of his character equals a major influence on me, and I suspect on contemporary Japanese literature as well.  For instance, Mishima's major influence was Dazai.  Well, sort of.  He didn't want to be a Dazai, in fact, he hated his work.   But the truth is hatred of Dazai's character and work was a sign of love and respect to the great decadent literary figure - and Dazai was extremely decadent in the Japanese context.   Drinker, womanizer, cad, drug addict, and extremely handsome - and a writing talent that is extremely superb.  Dazai is one unique writer, and a day doesn't go by where I don't think about him.  Hmm, perhaps this is really an obsession on my part, but let's put that aside for the moment.

"Schoolgirl" is a snapshot of the day in the life of a young girl, with her inner thoughts, her 'childish' impressions mixed in with great awareness of her world.   It reads like a narrative poem, with some quiet beautiful moments, but with a 'punk' attitude.  Well, punk attitude in 1939 Tokyo!  You can smell the coming disaster in these pages, and they a writer/poet can smell the culture as it happens - and Dazai is one of those writers who for sure knew how the wind was blowing at the time of his writings.  This small book is under a 100 pages, but it hits hard like a heavyweight fighter.  One of the great writers of the 20th Century, and "Schoolgirl" is small in size, but huge as a classic piece of literature.

"No Longer Human Vol 2" by Usamaru Furuya

Part 2 of three parts of the manga "No Longer Human" based on Osamu Dazai's novel of the same name.  And when we left our hero from volume one he survived a suicide pact with a lovely - and now how does he live and go on?   Well he does of course, but without ruining others and himself as well.   Usamaru Furuya is perfectly matched up with Dazai's obsession of life among the edge of total failure.  So far part 2 is like watching an accident as it happens.  Very enjoyable!

Usamaru Furuya's Graphic Novel of Osamu Dazai's "No Longer Human"

It has been a Usamaru Furuya month for me, since I read "Lychee Light Club early this month. And I liked it a lot - but this is really my cup of sake. "No Longer Human" is a classic and great Osamu Dazai novel, and Furuya does a good job in updating the story (slightly). 

A story of a wealthy young teenager who had everything but quickly loses it due to feelings of severe alienation. Yes, it could be a Who rock opera concept, but in the hands of Dazai its a poetic downsizing of a character slowly losing his sense of identity. His only hope really is becoming a writer. And the book (and graphic novel) is based on Dazai's personal life. I discovered this writer while living in Japan, and at the time (and still does to be honest) makes perfect sense to me. Whenever I write something I think of Dazai first. And its interesting Furuya has taken on this novel as a graphic piece of narration. His work is super great and sophisticated.  "No Longer Human" is a three part series. I can't wait till volume 2

Osamu Dazai Day

I am sort of in this reflective bad mood thing, and when I get myself in this weird void feeling I start to write short stories. Mostly humorous, why? Basically I write for two reasons.

1) Because someone asks or makes a request for me to it. For instance if I have do an event or a reading in front of a crowd I like to do something original and new.

2) The need to work something out in my system, and therefore make it entertaining. To me that's the art of the work or the writing.

One of my all-time favorite writers Osamu Dazai had a rather bleak tragic life, yet when he wrote stories based on his experiences, he somehow twisted the facts to make these incredible charming and sometimes-funny stories. Whenever I put a pencil on paper, I think of Dazai.



Some years ago I went to his living quarters outside of Tokyo. It was there that he wrote many of his short stories. It was probably the most expensive taxi drive ever for me, but it was worth it just to be in a room that the great Japanese author touched. Outside his studio there was a little gift shop that sold a bumper sticker that said "Osamu Dazai." I have it somewhere in my studio.





This is one of my all-time favorite books. Of course, it's out of print.